If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I Aten't Dead Yet (Weatherwax's Primal Journal)

That was before I moved to Wisconsin. Now I'm not that skinny, either. I'm kinda depressed, constitutionally lazy, and about to turn forty . . . but I aten't dead yet. I'm starting again, again.

A lot of people seem to come to the Primal Blueprint after years of fitness training. Fellow PBers, that is not I. I came here after years of sitting on my tush. I believed for much of my life that a) exercise was work for no reason and therefore contrary to common sense and b) sports were invented to torture people like me, that is, pale outsiders who prefer arguing about books to chasing balls up and down a big rectangle. Eventually I realized I had a body to worry about, and that exercise could be fun in and of itself . . . but some part of me still thinks, "Can you believe I'm really doing this? This working out thing just isn't me. No, I'm that girl in the corner with her nose in a book."

On other hand, that girl has always loved her salty snacks. Maybe that's why my other attempts at doing this didn't result in a lot of weight loss. Even though I was working out some, I was really grooving on being allowed to eat infinite amounts of meat and macadamia nuts while catching up on my Sisson-inspired reading. In other words, I changed my diet a lot and got a little fitter . . . but I didn't change my mind. And eventually I just went back to being myself.

So this time, it's myself I have to change.

Goal 1: Build an exercise habit. By the end of a 66 day period, I want to be doing the recommended weekly workout cycles (3+ hours of something a little harder than just walking on the flat, 2-3 days heavy lifting, 1 day sprint, 1 day playing hard with my kid). For right now, I'm gaining cardiovascular strength and doing physical therapy on my shoulders. Not glamorous, but . . . that's me.

Goal 2: Ease in to the dietary changes. Though I'm tempted to go all in (because I like feeling gung-ho and I know I can be successful at that part of the PB at least), I'm starting only with this: switching to herbal tea and homemade flavored fizzy water instead of beer at night. Yep, that's it. When that gets automatic, I'll move to the next thing.

Comment

Welcome. Love your story so far. Glad you wrote it down because once you get going you will look back and hardly believe how much you have changed.

I went standup paddleboarding this summer and I cannot believe a) that I did it at all, b) that I was actually quite good at it in that I didn't fall off on my first attempt, c) that I had so much fun doing something sporty.

12 months ago I joined the gym, a few months later discovered PB and now look at myself in surprise at how much I have changed.

Comment

Love the name. Terry Pratchett is by far my favorite author.
I too am a bibliophile, although I have always made time to play, so that means I was always at least [I]partially[I] active. the way I've found to get your exercise in without it feeling like work is to make it something you enjoy doing. Common sense right? Time flies when you're having fun and, if you can find an activity you like, you don't notice that you're making your body work.
I walk to the store, go for bike rides with my roommate, take my dog to the park and chase her around, and I tend my garden. Something I kept from my childhood is a love of climbing, and I've been known to haul my butt into a tree and sit there with a book, thus combining the need to move with my love of reading.
You know yourself best, so go with what you know will work for you. I had to ease myself into eating primally, and I'm still not all the way there yet. But I aten't dead yet either.

Comment

It's amazing how motivating it is to hear from you . . . I wasn't expecting it. Canio6, geostump, Siobhan, thanks for the welcome and the kind words.

Genie--I used to love climbing trees to read! When I was a kid I'd take snacks and a book up into a tree across the street and hide from my mother to get out of housework. I guess I still read to get out of housework, only I don't have anyplace to hide from it. Usually I just climb the sofa. Maybe when the weather's better I'll try to find a good climbing tree.

Annieh--Paddleboarding in a year? Now that's inspiring! You made me realize how many times I think "that looks like fun" without believing I'll ever do it myself. One of the biggest reasons I'm getting in shape is so that I'll be fit enough to try the fun stuff.